blue whale baby shower cake

My cousin Yvonne asked me to make a cake for her baby shower a few months ago, and of course I was happy to do it!  We decided on a vanilla cake filled with fresh whipped cream and strawberries, with a blue whale on top (inspired by her current favorite emoticon).  After doing a quick sketch of the whale, I also decided to do blue ombre petal sides on the cake, to resemble waves.

For the vanilla cake, I decided to use the same Sweetapolita recipe that I had used for my son's Spiderman birthday cupcakes this year, except for an 9-inch cake instead of cupcakes.

Once the cake layers were baked and cooled, I whipped up a batch of fresh whipped cream flavored with a hint of vanilla, and also a batch of cream cheese buttercream, which I used to pipe a border to contain the whipped cream.

After filling the piped border with whipped cream, I arranged freshly sliced strawberries in an even layer, and then covered it with more whipped cream.

Then I added my second layer of cake, and then did a quick crumb coat with the cream cheese buttercream.

Then came the fun part - the ombre petal sides!  A while ago I found a great tutorial at Hungry Housewife, and since then have done a purple ombre petal cake, an all-blue petal cake, and a camoflauge petal cake as well!  They are so much fun to do!

Next, I divided my frosting, colored, and filled my piping bags (fitted with a Wilton #12 tip), and then I was ready to do my petal sides.

Then I was ready to pipe my whale.  I started by piping an outline of the whale, then added eyes and the fins, and then filled it in using a star tip.

Then I added a dotted stream of water coming out of his spout, and a congratulatory message to finish it off!

Baby Ethan was born about a month later, healthy and happy!  Isn't he adorable? :) Congratulations Yvonne!